


Back Before We Began

by rainbowsandbubbles



Series: JatP Character Deep Dives [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alive Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Band Break Up, Best Friends, Bromance, Brothers, Canon Backstory, Gen, Reggie Angst (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie planning Sunset Curve trajectory, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms), before the orpheum, epic reunion tour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowsandbubbles/pseuds/rainbowsandbubbles
Summary: “This Band is Back?? Reggie, stop putting your songs in my journal.” Luke pulled out the page and crumpled it into a ball, then threw it across the room at his best friend.“Hey, that was a gift,” Reggie said, batting the paper snowball away. The lyrics weren’t perfect yet, and they still needed the right melody, but he’d started thinking about it last week when Bobby and Luke had an epic blowup that almost ended Sunset Curve before they even got their first real gig. Great bands always had their ups and downs, but even when they broke up, it wasn’t forever. They always came back together for epic reunion tours—once tempers and egos had cooled. And Sunset Curve was among the greats, even if no one really knew them yet. “You’ll thank me for it when we need something to announce our comeback tour one day.”... Backstory of the song "This Band is Back" -- Sunset Curve band rehearsal before that fateful night at the Orpheum, with some Luke/Bobby drama and a little peek into Reggie's head.
Relationships: Alex/Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Luke Patterson/Reggie, Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Luke Patterson
Series: JatP Character Deep Dives [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034106
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	Back Before We Began

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for your love on my first story! I have a lot of thoughts about the backstories for these characters in my head, and I love exploring them with you all! This time I really wanted to dive into the question of why Luke, Alex, and Reggie all already knew the song "This Band is Back" in that epic scene on the beach -- and how Luke & Alex 100% knew it would be the exact thing to cheer Reggie up in that moment. 
> 
> My goal is to stick within the canon of the show, just fleshing out some of the characters that I hope to see more of in season 2. I have thoughts about the Reggie/Ray epic bromance (though that would need several chapters to really do it justice), as well as Carrie/Julie/Flynn backstory and of course more Willex. Let me know in the comments which one you think I should take on next!

“ _This Band is Back??_ Reggie, stop putting your songs in my journal.” Luke pulled out the page and crumpled it into a ball, then threw it across the room at his best friend.

“Hey, that was a gift,” Reggie said, batting the paper snowball away. The lyrics weren’t perfect yet, and they still needed the right melody, but he’d started thinking about it last week when Bobby and Luke had an epic blowup that almost ended Sunset Curve before they even got their first real gig. Great bands always had their ups and downs, but even when they broke up, it wasn’t forever. They always came back together for epic reunion tours—once tempers and egos had cooled. And Sunset Curve was among the greats, even if no one really knew them yet. “You’ll thank me for it when we need something to announce our comeback tour one day.”

Alex sighed and shook his head. “Dude, we’re not…” He shot Reggie an exasperated look and then shook his head again. “Okay.”

Reggie chuckled and winked at the drummer, who rolled his eyes. “We just need an epic sound to go with my epic lyrics. I’m thinking...” He strummed a soft chord progression on his bass. “And then Alex could come in with his killer beats…” Alex tried to be so practical and rational all the time, but Reggie suspected he kind of liked the impracticality of Reggie’s dreams. If nothing else, it gave Alex an excuse to feel superior and in-control sometimes, and he didn’t always get a lot of that. Everyone deserved a chance to feel in-control of their own lives.

Luke shook his head and grinned, literally bouncing with excitement the way he did every time he had a new song to show them. “Okay, whatever. Guys, I’ve been working on something sweet for our show this weekend.”

Bobby snorted and bent to pick up the crumpled lyric sheet from the floor, _accidentally_ knocking into Luke a little bit harder than was strictly necessary as he stood up again. “There you go again. Acting like this is the Luke show.” He unfolded the crumpled page and handed it to Reggie, then glared at Luke. “Who died and made you king?”

“I’m the lead singer.” Luke pushed Bobby aside and handed his open journal to Alex. He grinned and playfully punched Reggie in the arm. “Of course this is the Luke show. Right, boys?”

“Yeah.” Reggie shrugged and chuckled softly. He knew his friend wasn’t as egotistical as he sounded sometimes, but Luke was so determined to prove to his parents that he belonged in Sunset Curve that he often forgot how to chill. He acted tough, trying to keep up the rock god attitude, but deep down, Reggie knew that Luke was just an overexcited puppy. “Sure, Luke.”

“No.” Alex chuckled and closed the notebook, holding it out to Luke.

Bobby grabbed it instead and turned to the page Luke had dog-eared. He glanced at the page, then shoved Luke just a little bit harder than “playfully.” He tossed the journal to Reggie and shook his head. “We’re not singing your musical ego-boost, Luke.”

Reggie glanced at the lyrics his bandmates were dismissing. It wasn’t like them to reject one of Luke’s songs. They even spent a whole week figuring out _Unsaid Emily_ before Bobby finally refused to sing it anymore. He said it just felt too weird to sing a song about Luke’s mom, when they all knew the fans would interpret it as a love song and get all romantic about it. They would have to answer all kinds of questions from nosy interviewers about the mysterious Emily, and then they would have to admit it was about Luke’s mom or make up some story for the press. Either way, Bobby said he wouldn’t do it.

He was right.

That would be way too awkward.

But they always gave Luke’s songs a chance. Even _Unsaid Emily_ , as awkward as it would be to perform, was freaking amazing. Luke didn’t know how to write a dud. But this??

“It’s a metaphor,” Luke said, grabbing his journal out of Reggie’s hands and pointing to the messy handwriting on the page. “Like that lady said at the book club last weekend. See? Here—”

“That’s not how metaphors work!” Bobby yelled. “Don’t be so stupid.”

Luke’s jaw clenched and his smile disappeared. “Don’t ever call me stupid.”

Reggie smoothed the creases on his page of lyrics and then folded the page over and over again until it was a tiny square.

“Fine.” Bobby ran his fingers through his hair and smirked, stepping closer to Luke to show that he wasn’t intimidated. “But _My Name is Luke?_ C’mon. Even you have to admit that’s really stupid. First of all, there are _four_ of us here. We’re Sunset Curve, not Luke and the Curvettes. I didn’t sign up to be your backup dancer. Secondly, this is my garage. We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me. And besides, you’re only the lead singer because you hog the mic and the rest of us are too nice to shut you down.”

“I’m the lead singer because I bring in the crowds.” Luke flexed his muscles and kissed his bicep. “Gotta give the ladies what they want.” He smiled dangerously at Bobby and took a step closer, not willing to give up any ground in this garage band turf war.

Reggie unfolded the paper, smoothed it out again, and then folded it meticulously into an even tinier square. He dropped it on the floor by his feet and blinked a few times, then took a deep breath. He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t going to cry. He didn’t cry. He just hated it when Bobby and Luke got into it like this.

Bobby snorted. “Reality check, bro. Our fans aren’t just ladies. And the ladies don’t want an egotistical jerk.”

Luke clenched his fist and took another step toward Bobby, eliminating the gap between them so that they were closer than Luke and Reggie sharing a mic when they sang _Now or Never._ Neither of them showed any signs of backing down.

Alex scooped up the paper Reggie had dropped and unfolded it. He studied it for a moment, then chuckled and shook his head. “Hey, Reggie, what was that riff you were playing a minute ago?” He started tapping out a soft beat on his snare drum.

Reggie shrugged. It didn’t matter. If Sunset Curve broke up before they had played anything more important than his grandma’s book club and the alleyways behind a couple of random clubs, there was no point. They weren’t going to need a song for their epic reunion tour.

“C’mon Reginald.” Alex passed the lyric sheet to Luke and shot a pointed look at Bobby. “If these guys can’t play nice, we may need our comeback tour theme even sooner than you planned.”

Bobby laughed and took a step back, slinging his guitar strap over his shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

“You got it boys.” Luke shook his head, the overeager puppy dog grin returning to his face. He glanced at the page one more time, then slipped it between the pages of his song journal and picked out a melody to match the chords Reggie had thrown out earlier. He nodded at Bobby, who joined in with a jazzy riff that shouldn’t have worked with Luke’s melody but did.

Reggie smiled and hugged his bass. This is what made Sunset Curve one of the great bands. No matter how bad things got, here in Bobby’s garage or out in the world, they would always have each other. They were a family, and family always came back to each other.

He stepped into an imaginary spotlight, centerstage and thrummed a power chord on his bass, then stepped up to the mic.

_Can you, can you hear me?_

And his bandmates—his brothers—responded.

_Loud and clear!_

Yes.

This band was definitely back.


End file.
